Will Eurostar be affected by the 15 September 2022 ASLEF strike?

[Shinkansenfan]

Was planning to use a first class Eurailpass on Eurostar from Paris to London on 15 September. Will they be affected by the forthcoming ASLEF strike? Or, should I just fly to London instead?

The next day I was planning a circle trip from London to Sheffield (via LNER), to Manchester (via TPE), and return to London (via Avanti). Since this would be the day after strike day, what is the probability of a full schedule of non strike day service operating? Reading the Avanti thread, they seem to struggle to operate trains even on non strike days.

Departure from London was originally envisioned around 09:00.

I've searched other threads and other websites, but found the information inconclusive.

 

[duncanp]

Eurostar will not be affected by the strike on September 15th, which only concerns drivers from certain train companies.

Services will run on September 16th, but are likely to start later than normal, and operate to a special timetable.

Keep looking at the various train company websites in the days leading up to September 15th for more information.

 

[30907]

Eurostar will not be affected by the strike on September 15th, which only concerns drivers from certain train companies.

Unfortunately RMT are also striking, and it is likely (from previous experience) that trains will not be able to run after about 1900. So choose your train carefully!

Services will run on September 16th, but are likely to start later than normal, and operate to a special timetable.

...and it is likely that very few if any trains will run on 17th

 

[duncanp]

Unfortunately RMT are also striking, and it is likely (from previous experience) that trains will not be able to run after about 1900. So choose your train carefully!

...and it is likely that very few if any trains will run on 17th

I didn't know about the RMT strike on the 15th. I thought it was just staff from 12 UK TOCs.

This affects me as I was due to come back from Lille on 15th September, but have had to push this back to 16th September.

Hopefully by the time I get back (10am on the 16th) the trains will have started running again.

 

[Bald Rick]

RMT and ASLEF are both striking on 15th. For the 12 TOCs where ASLEF are striking few (if any) services will run, for the rest of the network it will be a limited service on key routes only, between 0715 and 1830.

On the 17th it is RMT only (Although technically ASLEF could still announce a strike then too, unlikely). This will be similar to other strike days, ie a limited service on key routes only between 0715 and 1830.

Many more trains will run on Saturday 17th than Thursday 15th.

 

[TheGrew]

As above when I travelled on 20th of August my later Eurostar was cancelled so I had to reschedule onto one about 4 hours earlier (the ones between were fully booked). Basically HS1 got closed due to the RMT strikes so you the last train towards Paris was a fair bit later than the one coming the other way.

 

[johncrossley]

If your return train is cancelled, can you get a refund on the whole journey, including the outward train?

 

[Watershed]

If your return train is cancelled, can you get a refund on the whole journey, including the outward train?

Yes.

 

[DanNCL]

Are the signallers for HS1 part of the RMT strike action? If not then I struggle to see how an RMT strike would impact Eurostar. Along with the Island Line it would be one of the only rail services not impacted!

 

[johncrossley]

Are the signallers for HS1 part of the RMT strike action? If not then I struggle to see how an RMT strike would impact Eurostar. Along with the Island Line it would be one of the only rail services not impacted!

Eurostar had a strike timetable in June to cope with the RMT action. You can see that early and late trains were cancelled in the same way as domestic trains.

https://content-static.eurostar.com/documents/revised_timetable_june_2022.pdf

I guess we can expect a similar service to run on 15 September.

Disruptions | Travel News | Eurostar

Eurostar travel news and service information. Check travel details for delays, track work and any service updates.

www.eurostar.com

Planned UK rail strikes on 15, 17 and 26 September​

If you’re travelling on or around 15, 17 and 26 September, we’re aware of planned strike action on these dates. Although the full impact is not yet known, we expect to run most of our trains. We will update this page as soon as more information becomes available. Passengers travelling on these dates will be contacted if their journey is affected by timetable changes.

 

[Goldfish62]

Are the signallers for HS1 part of the RMT strike action? If not then I struggle to see how an RMT strike would impact Eurostar. Along with the Island Line it would be one of the only rail services not impacted!

As far as I can make out HS1 Ltd sub-contracts maintenance and operation to a subsidiary of NR, where while being somewhat separate to "mainstream" NR, its staff must still be in dispute. I should imagine that HS1 is extracting hefty contractual compensation payments from NR for onward transmission to Eurostar and freight operators.

 

[Shinkansenfan]

Thanks all for your replies and updates. This all becoming quite a muddle. I'm now rethinking if I will give the UK a miss this trip.

If I do visit, I think flying in and out will be the way to go. Until the airport or airlines go out on strike that weekend.

Please keep the updates coming.

 

[30907]

Are the signallers for HS1 part of the RMT strike action?

They are.

 

[DanNCL]

Eurostar had a strike timetable in June to cope with the RMT action. You can see that early and late trains were cancelled in the same way as domestic trains.

https://content-static.eurostar.com/documents/revised_timetable_june_2022.pdf

I guess we can expect a similar service to run on 15 September.

Disruptions | Travel News | Eurostar

Eurostar travel news and service information. Check travel details for delays, track work and any service updates.

www.eurostar.com

As far as I can make out HS1 Ltd sub-contracts maintenance and operation to a subsidiary of NR, where while being somewhat separate to "mainstream" NR, its staff must still be in dispute. I should imagine that HS1 is extracting hefty contractual compensation payments from NR for onward transmission to Eurostar and freight operators.

They are.

Very well I stand corrected!

 

[johncrossley]

The strike is off, but Eurostar have already sent emails to customers informing them that their train is retimed or cancelled.

 

[DanielB]

The strike is off, but Eurostar have already sent emails to customers informing them that their train is retimed or cancelled.

For the Amsterdam Eurostars cancelled on the 15th that is very likely to happen anyway: on September 15th there's again an NS strike in region "Midden" which on the previous occasion lead to no trains in the entire country.

 

[AdamWW]

For the Amsterdam Eurostars cancelled on the 15th that is very likely to happen anyway: on September 15th there's again an NS strike in region "Midden" which on the previous occasion lead to no trains in the entire country.

Does that include Utrecht?

I thought that while almost everything stopped in the country when the area including Utrecht was on strike before, Thalys and Eurostar services still ran (and a limited Sprinter service between Schiphol and Amsterdam).

On the other hand the Amsterdam Eurostar only made it as far as Brussels when Amsterdam was on strike (because it affected the depot they go to between services in Amsterdam?)

That's how I remember it anyway.

 

[johncrossley]

There's a strike tomorrow. NS will only be running between Utrecht, Amsterdam Zuid and Schiphol. Flixbus is completely sold out between Rotterdam, Amsterdam and Groningen.

 

[Bald Rick]

There's a strike tomorrow. NS will only be running between Utrecht, Amsterdam Zuid and Schiphol. Flixbus is completely sold out between Rotterdam, Amsterdam and Groningen.

what’s the strike about, and who is striking?

 

[AdamWW]

There's a strike tomorrow. NS will only be running between Utrecht, Amsterdam Zuid and Schiphol. Flixbus is completely sold out between Rotterdam, Amsterdam and Groningen.

During the all-Netherlands strike last week a colleague had no trouble travelling from Schiphol to Rotterdam by a series of service buses. I expect it took a bit longer than Flixbus would, mind.

That one was interesting because NS only announced late in the afternoon before that (unlike the previous strikes) the whole country would come to a halt not just one area.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 8 Sep 2022 ==

what’s the strike about, and who is striking?

Pay and conditions. NS staff.

 

[johncrossley]

During the all-Netherlands strike last week a colleague had no trouble travelling from Schiphol to Rotterdam by a series of service buses. I expect it took a bit longer than Flixbus would, mind.

But wouldn't you have to be savvy and choose routes that don't parallel the train? You would have thought that those routes would be full of people with the same idea, and so you might not get on.

 

[AdamWW]

But wouldn't you have to be savvy and choose routes that don't parallel the train? You would have thought that those routes would be full of people with the same idea, and so you might not get on.

My colleague just took the "obvious" buses (as suggested by Google Maps) and it worked out fine. It was around the middle of the day and maybe it would have been worse at rush hour. And maybe not. I presume it depends on the extent to which people just decide to stay at home rather than attempt to travel.

And of course if everyone decides to avoids the buses that parallel the train...

(Reminds me of the story of a scientist in a group going out from Princeton to Los Alamos to work on the atom bomb. They'd all been told to buy their train tickets from different stations so as not to arouse suspicion. So he thought that if everyone else is buying a ticket from somewhere else..... And when he bought his ticket from Princeton he was asked if the large amount of luggage that was being sent out there from Princeton was his....)

 

[DanielB]

Does that include Utrecht?

That day it does, yes. But today a strike in northwest and west already resulted in NS stopping all trains in the country. Possibly because it would affect any IC service today.
So it's likely they'll do the same next week when other strikes of multiple regions are planned.

 

[johncrossley]

Most local and regional transport in the Netherlands, other than the main big city operators, are also striking on regular basis. Mostly it is a different region or regions each time, but next Friday there is a nationwide strike planned.

 

[DanielB]

Most local and regional transport in the Netherlands, other than the main big city operators, are also striking on regular basis. Mostly it is a different region or regions each time, but next Friday there is a nationwide strike planned.

Big difference is however that in regional transport only one union is on strike, so effects are rather limited.
Regional trains are hardly affected as well, as only staff paid according to the collective agreement for public transport is on strike. Most of the regional train staff however are paid according to the collective agreement for multimodal transport.

 

[higthomas]

The strike is off, but Eurostar have already sent emails to customers informing them that their train is retimed or cancelled.

We're planning to travel back to the UK on the 17th and have received just such an email. It is most inconvenient given we're relying on a connection from an infrequent train from further south. Any idea it they're likely to re-instate the trains on the 17th now the strike has been called off?

Edit: Ah, I see https://www.eurostar.com/uk-en/travel-info/service-information/eurostar-travel-updates says:

We’re aware that the planned UK rail strikes on 15, 17, 26 and 27 September have been called off.

Timetable of 15 and 17 September

We are currently reviewing the revised timetable we communicated to affected passengers yesterday. We're looking into the possibility of running a full timetable. We will publish a further update on this page as soon as we have more information.

Hope that happens!

 

[johncrossley]

The train strikes in the Netherlands have been cancelled, but the Eurostar website still mentions them.

Eurostar have reinstated the trains cancelled because of the planned UK rail strike but the retimed trains haven't reverted to the old times.

Eurostar are also allowing fee free changes for the next week or so in case people don't want to travel to London at the moment, but you have to pay any difference in fare.